Silent Conversation
by baka-onna2003
Summary: Reminiscing has a way of making you realize what's important is in the present. Kiba and Shino discover this one night while at the laundromat. KS A.U. Co-written with emesisbowl.


**Title: **Present Silence

**Summary:** Reminiscing has a way of making you realize what's important in the present. Kiba and Shino discover this one night while at a laundro-mat. K/S A.U.

**Warnings: **M/M relationship and A.U. Kinda like a sequel to Scary Movie Bliss. Keyword is kinda.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto. Or a laundro-mat for that matter.

Co-authored by SeiKouKi

Kiba walked into the laundro-mat that was on campus in nothing but a pair of pants, as the pants were the only clean things that he had at the moment. He balanced a basket of dirty clothes and fabric softener on one hip and a bottle of detergent on the other. Shino was right behind him, carrying a bottle of bleach and the other basket of clothes with him. He sighed. There were about three more baskets' worth of clothes left in the room. Ah, well. He would just have to walk back to the room and pick up the rest. Kiba sat down onto a bench and waited for Shino to arrive.

Shino entered the laundro-mat, frowning as the warm air brushed against his face. He thoroughly disliked these places, ever since he was a kid. Spotting Kiba, he dropped the basket with a loud 'thump', and sat next to him.

Shrugging off his jacket, he glanced around the room, glad that no one else was here. "...Shall we start?" Weeks worth of dirty clothes wouldn't be doing themselves (Unfortunately).

Kiba sighed and stood up. He threw the clothes into a machine together, not caring about separating them by colors at the moment, and closed the door. He hated doing laundry. Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair and grabbed the bleach. Pouring the correct amount of bleach into the machine was a tedious job. Hell, pouring the bleach was a perilous job, particularly for one Inuzuka Kiba. Kiba punched the buttons on the washer harder than was necessary, but didn't care.

Shino furrowed his eyebrows together and followed Kiba's lead. He frowned deeper when Kiba began to abuse the laundry machine's button.

"Kiba, stop. Remember what happened last time...?" Last time of course, referred to when they were 12 years old. It involved a very angry old lady, broken machines, and...furious fathers.

Shino's words penetrated Kiba's mind and he sighed. "Yah, I remember. Only too well." That incident was a prominent feature in his life, for reasons currently left unsaid. The machine finally started up and Kiba sat down onto the bench in front of it and stared moodily at the spinning clothes. "I also happen to remember the time when you thought that it would be fun to poke an ant hill with a stick covered in honey."

Shino slammed the lid of the washing machine, and turned back to Kiba. He inwardly scowled at the memory.

"That was ten years ago...," he said dryly. "You remember when you tried to take my father's sunglasses off?" Shino silently wondered why they were being so...sentimental, but he wasn't complaining.

"I have the scars from both incidents. Physical ones from the ants, and mental ones from your dad. Shit. That man can get scary when he's angry." Kiba's moodiness was starting to lift, and he smirked at Shino. "We're turning into old men, ya know."

"Father is intimidating, yes... We're not old. In fact, we're not even legally adults yet," Shino said, quirking his eyebrow. He then reached for his textbook, and began reading. "...Speaking of Father, when will we tell our family about...us?"

"Old men sit around and remember the old days." Kiba retorted, leaning back onto the palms of his hands. He had pondered over that question in his mind as well. "Honest to kami-sama, I think that my sister thinks that something is up between us already. Nosy woman. She's most likely told ma, but they haven't said anything about it. I think that any ole time is good. Does your dad think anything's up?" Kiba turned his head to look at Shino, a lazy, almost content look on his face.

Shino flipped through his textbook until he got to the page he wanted.

"Will your mother and Hana-san...mind?" he asked, not looking up from his book. His emotionless voice betrayed the anxiousness he felt. Usually, he didn't give a damn what other people thought but his was different. Shino's fist clenched when he imagined what his father would think of this. "…Father hasn't said anything about my love life."

Kiba leaned over and looked at the book Shino was reading. Big, complicated words stared back at him. "I don't think so. I mean, the whole, continuation of the family thing is Hana's job. Your father doesn't say much about anything, man." Kiba tilted his head to the side, trying to read underneath the underneath. Shino was nervous. Really nervous. Kiba placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Things will resolve, whether slowly or quickly I have no frickin' idea. But that's ok."

Shino tensed under Kiba's hand, and glanced at him at the corner of his eye. Throughout the years, Kiba had gotten better and better at reading him. He wouldn't be surprised if the Inuzuka would be able to sniff them out soon.

"Father has a different way of speaking," he said calmly, fingers absently turning the pages of the text book. "...I know." In no way was he regretting his relationship with Kiba, but blood is thicker than water (but no good to drink). After his mother passed away, they went through hard times together. He didn't want to disappoint his father.

Mentally shaking his head, he gave a very, very small smile to Kiba. Kiba went through bad things as well; I shouldn't whine.

Kiba rolled his eyes at Shino, as though he knew what he was thinking. Knowing Shino-speak was dead useful at times. Standing up, Kiba looked at Shino.

"Your dad doesn't speak." This was said in a teasing tone. Kiba smiled and winked at Shino, and then started to stretch his body in preparation for the work out was about to have. Studying like Shino did never did him much good.

"You know everything, Shino."

Shino rolled his eyes at the crack at his father, but knew it was true. He didn't want to admit, but sometimes their conversations would consist of

"...Son."

"...Father." and that would be it.

He coughed in his hand to hide the light blush that was blooming because of what Kiba had said. Even if wasn't embarrassed easily, he was immune to things like that (especially said in that tone of voice). Inner Shino cursed himself loudly.

Kiba started to stretch out the muscles in his legs. He gave a wide grin when he saw Shino try to cover up his blush. Like that could happen. After he was done with his legs, he started on the rest of his body, being sure to face Shino while he did it. Ah, the ways he was able to torture him...

"So, I was thinking-"

"Did you hurt yourself?"

Kiba glared at Shino, not dignifying that remark with an answer.

"What if you came over to my house on Valentines? You know, have dinner or something like that."

It was here that Kiba started to go through a kata, accidentally kicking a basket of clothes into the air as he did. Screw raining cats and dogs, 'cause it was raining gym socks and boxers.

Shino glared at the younger boy, knowing what he was trying to do. He was very close to achieving his goal however, but Shino was tired from...THOSE activities.

The Aburame became even more tired, as he stood up and jumped to avoid the rain of smelly old clothes. Shifting into a fighting stance, he monotoned, "Sure. Your mother and Hana-san won't mind?" He wanted to ask 'what about the dance' as well, but he had to dodge a pair of gym shorts.

Kiba gave up trying to seduce Shino and slid into a fighting stance as well.

"Nah. Ma would think it was time to pull out the baby pictures- even though you've already seen them and are in most of them- and Hana-nii-chan's gonna try to analyze the ass out of you. Not that you have one to begin with. And after that, we can go to the dance. If you want to, that is..."

Kiba threw a punch at Shino, and immediately followed up with a side kick.

Shino slid with Kiba's punch, letting it roll off of his chin. Ignoring the pain, he grabbed Kiba's leg and twisted it to perturb his balance. It wouldn't be hard with the mess that graced the floor.

"Burn the pictures with me in them," he said, quirking an eyebrow both at the baby pictures comment and that Hana-san was STILL trying to analyze him. (She had been trying for years now. In fact, Shino had been her test subject when she had to analyze someone for six months as part of her degree.) He didn't give Kiba's insult the liberty to have an answer, so he answered Kiba's question instead. "Okay."

Kiba made a carefully calculated and controlled fall, landing with a thump on a pile of shirts. As Shino still had his leg up in the air, Kiba used his other leg to sweep Shino's feet out from under him.

"No way. Do you know what my ma would do to me if I did?" Kiba mentally shuddered at the very thought.

"..."

Ideas and plots were flashing through Kiba's mind almost faster than he could manage. Really, his mother and sister should have become either demolition experts or interrogators.

Shino landed on his palms and on the balls of his feet. Momentarily forgetting he hadn't done any thing remotely flexible in a while- THOSE activities didn't count- he flipped backwards to land on his feet.

A bolt of pain shocked through him, but he stood still, grabbing at his abdomen. He masked his pain with a little frown. "Why would our 4th (well, my 5th your 4th) Halloween be of such importance?" Shino was NOT a very happy bumble bee.

Kiba, who was the more sensible of the two at the moment, picked himself up off of the ground the good old fashioned way and walked over to Shino. He swatted Shino's hand away from his stomach and looked at the healing skin. His deductions led him to conclude that today would be a light spar. A very light spar.

"Shino, come on. This is my ma we're talking about here. You know how she can get."

Shino rubbed at the bruise Kiba gave him, a distraction to Kiba looking under his shirt. He sighed, realizing that he was abusing his body too much, but stopped thinking of it. Gently taking hold of Kiba's hand, he pulled it up and lightly kissed the back of it.

He dropped it, the moment gone as quickly as it had come. "How could I forget...she lectured me too, you know. When you weren't around." Secretly, Shino was ...intimidated by Inuzuka-san, but she was...nice.

Kiba plopped back onto the floor to stretch once again. Smiling sweetly, he looked up at Shino.

"I swear, if Hana-nii-chan and ma ever wanted to become detectives, they would have the highest successful interrogation rates in the city. Those two are exhausting. All. The. Time. There wouldn't be a single husband who would be able to lie to his wife or husband when he got home from work." He started doing crunches, as the spar had ended and he was bored again.

Shino bent to pick up the mess the made. It was unsanitary to leave their dirty garments all over a public place after all. He frowned, imagining the silent mortification he would go through if Hinata or any other female found one of his clothes here.

"Your mother is in the police force right? And Hana-san is thinking to join the army...?" He asked questiongly. Aburame Shibi, his father was a Professor at a college. Shino however, was thinking of joining the army as well...

"Yep. Captain, well, nearly, of the force. Hana-nii's already finished boot camp and got posted close to home, so she still lives there. It's a pain in the ass, personally. The army paid for her to go to med school, hence her psychology and sociology degrees."

Kiba finished his crunches, stood up, and started to help Shino pick up the dirty clothes. Yecsh. They stank.

It was at this point that Kiba looked at Shino. "Come to think of it, you've kept quiet about what you want to be Shino. Do tell."

Shino nodded silently listening to what his friend was saying. He threw the clothes he gathered into a basket, sighing.

"The army," he said bluntly. He would join it first, then ...he didn't know. As tactical as he was, Shino had no idea what was in store of the future.

Kiba looked over at his lover with a critical look. Odd enough, he could actually see Shino doing well in the army. Scary...

"Meh. Why the hell would you do that?" He could see Shino doing well in the army, but he couldn't see why.

"I do what I please," he replied, not answering the question at all.

Kiba rolled his eyes at Shino. He hadn't really been expecting an answer.

"Smartass."

Shino rolled his eyes behind his shades. "Fine then. I refuse to answer that question on the bonds that I do not know the answer." It didn't really answer anything but it was close enough.

Kiba gave him a "What the fuck?" look. "Bonds...? Shino, what the hell are you talking about?"

"Bounds," Shino corrected him.

"You said bonds. Whatever." Kiba brushed him off, and stared at him.

Shino raised an eyebrow. "...What?"

"Look at us. We start off talking about the past, and end up talking about the future. Seems we do a lot of talking."

Shino stayed silent before looking at Kiba.

"I know something that we could do other than talk. You'd like it, too."

"Oh, really? What?"

In response, Shino leaned over to kiss him. The past was in the past, and the future held whatever it held. They could talk about both until they were blue in the face. They were in the present, however, and that conversation needed no words.


End file.
